RIO DE JANEIRO, March 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) —\u00a0Brazil’s ex-president and alleged head of a graft ring, Michel Temer, was freed from jail on Monday after a judge said there were no legal grounds for his detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Temer, accused of leading a sophisticated embezzlement and money laundering scheme, was the second ex-president of the Latin American country to be caught up in a sprawling anti-corruption probe called Car Wash that has claimed scores of political and corporate scalps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 78-year-old predecessor of the current President Jair Bolsonaro was arrested on Thursday in Sao Paulo and placed in “preventative detention” in Rio de Janeiro – a decision overturned by judge Antonio Ivan Athie, citing the lack of legal justification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Athie also ordered the immediate release of former mines and energy minister Moreira Franco and several others detained along with Temer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I am not against the so-called Car Wash (investigation),” Athie said in his decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I want to see our country free from the corruption that plagues it. However, without constitutional guarantees, guaranteed to all … there is no legitimacy in the fight against this plague.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hours after the ruling, Temer was freed and whisked away in a car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The federal prosecutor’s office said it would appeal the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The federal prosecutor’s office on Thursday accused Temer of leading a criminal organization that was “involved in concrete acts of clear gravity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It described a “sophisticated criminal system” which by the end of 2014 had made illicit payments of some one million reais (US$500,000) in connection with the construction of a nuclear power plant that was never completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investigations suggest the group may have committed “various crimes” with public agencies and state-owned companies involving nearly half a billion dollars, the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since 2014 the Car Wash probe has uncovered a vast graft operation involving state oil firm Petrobras and major construction companies and bribes to politicians of several parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 150 people have been convicted and hundreds more charged so far. The scale of the corruption uncovered has stunned Brazilians weary of graft among their leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Temer is just the latest ex-president caught up in the probe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is serving a lengthy jail term after being convicted in two corruption cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Temer, who took over as a caretaker figure after the last Workers Party president, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached and removed from office in 2016, was Brazil’s most unpopular leader ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Rousseff was not directly implicated in the Car Wash scandal, she was damaged by association, having chaired the board at Petrobras between 2003-2010, when much of the alleged corruption was flourishing. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RIO DE JANEIRO, March 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) —\u00a0Brazil’s ex-president and alleged head of a graft ring, Michel Temer, was freed from jail on Monday after a judge said there were no legal grounds for his detention. Temer, accused of leading a sophisticated embezzlement and money laundering scheme, was the second ex-president of the Latin American country […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16307"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}